Medical school builder seeks $4.6M in lawsuit against Camden County agency

<137>The Camden home of <137>Cooper Medical School of Rowan University opened in July 2012, but construction wasn’t finished until months later, says the builder, The Bedwell Co. Inc., suing the Camden County Improvement Authority over delays that the company says cost it $4.6 million.<137> welcomed its first incoming class of students in the fall. On July 1, the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey will be dissolved and the School of Osteopathic Medicine will be part of Rowan, making Rowan only the second institution in the U.S. with two medical schools. COURIER-POST/DENISE HENHOEFFER file Cooper Medical School of Rowan University has its first class of 50 students this fall. DENISE HENHOEFFER/Courier-Post file Cameras and microphones that record classes and lectures are found in each learning space at the school, allowing students to access the information online. A tour of the newly built Cooper Medical School of Rowan University on Thursday, July 19, 2012. The building will be dedicated during a ceremony on July 24th and have its first incoming class of 50 medical students this fall.<137>(Photo: Denise Henhoeffer/Courier-Post file)

A Pennsylvania firm has sued the Camden County Improvement Authority, saying it is owed $4.6 million for construction of a Camden medical school.

The Bedwell Co. Inc. blames the CCIA for frequent delays and disruptions that inflated building costs for Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. The authority was the project’s contracting agent, according to the lawsuit.

Bedwell contends that its expenses totaled $50.6 million for the six-story building at Broadway and Benson Street but that it has been paid only $46 million. The West Chester firm initially agreed to two contracts valued at $39.8 million, the suit claims.

Bedwell installed the school’s foundation and structural steel under one contract and performed the building’s “general construction” under the other.

“From its inception, the project was plagued by delays due to defects in the design document and other circumstances that were beyond Bedwell’s control,” the lawsuit alleges.

The medical school held a grand opening ceremony in July 2012 and began classes one month later. But according to the lawsuit, its construction was not completed until Dec. 5, 2012 — 22 weeks behind schedule.

The lawsuit argues that Bedwell had to update its project schedule a dozen times during the school’s construction and that efforts to save time included the “intense compression of work activities and the introduction of a six-day workweek for some activities.”

It also asserts workers frequently lost time as Bedwell waited for answers to 212 “requests for information” from the project’s architect, HDR Architect and Engineers of Omaha. HDR also is a defendant.

Representatives of the CCIA and HDR could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Bedwell declined to comment on the allegations in the suit.

“We are confident an appropriate ruling will be made,” the firm said in a statement.

Bedwell also seeks legal fees and other costs in the suit, which was filed Monday in federal court in Camden by Evesham attorney Steven Berkowitz.